Not even after Cabrera’s 0-for-4 Monday, which included a pair of blasts to right-center field — near the wall, but not over it.

“Well, I mean, his first two at-bats were 800 feet of outs. In most other parks, that’s two home runs. He struck the ball well, he hit the ball up the middle well. They just had the second baseman shifted way over. In a lot of parks, he’s 3-for-3 with two homers right there,” said Ausmus, who’d noted earlier that Cabrera had looked good in early batting practice Monday.

“Absolutely. Those are the best swings I’ve seen the last few games from him. He hit early, he looked outstanding. He looked a lot more comfortable at the plate. Like I said, 800 feet of outs. Those might have been more than 800 feet of outs.

“Sometimes, in baseball, hitters do everything right, and get nothing to show for it. I think that happened three times.”

Color Cabrera unimpressed.

“I was 0-for-4,” he said in Monday’s terse postgame interview session. “They were outs.”

Even if you don’t go by the eyeball test, and look at Cabrera’s batting average on balls in play (BABIP), it’s .211 in that span, meaning he’s not getting rewarded with hits when he puts it in play.

“I have been in that situation where you have been struggling and you all of a sudden hit a ball well, and it doesn’t seem to find a spot on the grass to land. It just seems like everything’s working against you,” Ausmus said. “I’ve certainly been there before, and I understand the feeling — it feels like there are 18 players on defense, when you’re hitting.”

There’s this thought, too: Cabrera hasn’t struggled often in his career.

His longest streak of games without a hit was six, all the way back in 2003. The next longest was in 2012, when he went five hitless games in mid-April.

He sat at .222 on the last day of that stretch, April 16. His BABIP was .172.

About the Author

Detroit Tigers beat writer for The Oakland Press in Pontiac, Michigan. Mowery has spent 19 years covering sports, from preps to pros. He’s been honored with more than 25 awards for writing. Reach the author at matt.mowery@oakpress.com
or follow Matthew B. on Twitter: @MatthewBMowery.